Well, That Was New and Different

Hey, Friends.

So, I received what appears to be comment spam on 5 of my more recent posts, but not the most recent two. That isn't new and different, in and of itself.  Weird that they skipped the more recent entries, but not that different.

What was odd was that they were in Arabic.  How do I know that?  Google Translate.  I thought it was Arabic, but Google Translate confirmed it.  Good thing they have auto-detect when you copy and paste the text in!

I was pretty sure it was spam since it appeared to be the same exact thing in each comment.  So I had Google do its thing and translate.

It all appears to be for a home improvement company in Jabail.  Well, I assume it was for a home improvement company.  There was no company name indicated, or anything that appeared to be a link to a website.  It just listed things like "water removal in Jabail", "insulation repair in Jabail", "bug removal service in Jabail".  It was more like a string of search terms than a comment, although maybe it made more sense in the original language.

Do you know where Jabail is located, Friends?  In the United Arab Emirates.  Yeah, I totally had to look that up.

I'm a little confused why they thought the comments on my blog would be a super-awesome place to attempt to advertise.  I welcome readers in all languages and countries -- don't get me wrong.  That's why I include the little option to "translate" on the side.  It just seems like a blog written in English might have a largely English-speaking (reading?) audience who wouldn't be able to understand the comment without translating it.  Translate does tend to make things a bit more interesting to interpret, sometimes losing the original meaning and intention in the process.  And really, who scrolling through the posts on my blog is going to take the time to translate a random comment that was left in a different language?  That's a lot of extra work to expect from the casual passer-by.

I honestly don't get the point of it.

I obviously don't speak Arabic, since this little blog is written in English.  If the comment had been left in Spanish I would be okay for the most part, and I could probably figure out a bit of French before I had to translate.  I took Italian in college, but strangely that is the one I remember the least.

Okay, so maybe the language is not an obvious clue. This is the internet and I could be anywhere writing this, but if you click on my profile it does say I'm located in the United States.  Which I suppose could be a lie as well.....but that really would be giving me too much credit for trying to be sneaky and having the foresight to try and fake this stuff.  I lack the time, energy, and ability to give a shit about trying to create a fake online persona.

Secondly, Jabail?  Really?  Does this person honestly think I have the money to own property there?  I still have years and years of mortgage payments to make on my house here.  I'm also not going to contact a nameless company in Jabail for any home maintenance issues that should arise.  I think a local company would be far more cost-effective.  Thanks for the offer, though!

So, dear random spam person:

I reported your comments as spam and made them go bye-bye. Nothing personal, but that was literally the most irrelevant comment spam I have received, and that's saying a lot.  I don't know all of my Friends here, of course, but I can check the stats and see what countries the majority of them are from -- and you definitely would have been better off commenting in English or Spanish.

And then there was this interesting little thing I noticed in the stats.

None of the views logged today are even from the United Arab Emirates.  However, 14 today were from Saudi Arabia.  Maybe that is where the internet provider is located, maybe it's just an odd coincidence. Maybe you were incognito so I will never really know.  Just another reason to make your comments disappear.  Again, nothing personal.  I would do the same thing if it was someone advertising home improvement services from any other country and there was no sign of anyone from that country viewing my blog today.  Honestly, I would have deleted spam from a home improvement business in another state as it would be of no interest to me.

In closing, I don't like spam.  I don't care what language it is written in.  If it makes you feel better you get the prize for being the most irrelevant and unexpected.